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DAY DREAM 

& 

EVEN SONG 



BY 



Frederic Fairchild Sherman 




NEW YORK 

JAMES POTT & COMPANY 
1904 



Copyright IQ04 by Frederic Fairchild Sherman 
All rights reserved 



• OCT 10 1904 



•' X. ' ^.:i ' S^ ' [ 






Several of the poems included in this collection are 
reprinted by permission from the pages of Lippin- 
cott's Magazine, The Bookman, The Critic, The 
Youth's Companion, The Munsey Magazine, The 
Reader, The Sunday School Times, The Smart Set, 
The Independent and The Traveler's Record. 



FOR ELOISE 



CONTENTS 

SONNETS 

The Interpreter .... 9 

A Love-Thought . . . 10 

A Song-Dream .... 11 

Love's Springtide .... 12 

The Awakening .... 13 

The Love Letter .... 14 

Confession 15 

The Dawn of Love ... 16 

In City Pent 17 

The Morning Walk ... 18 

Sea and Land 19 

Love 20 

For a Copy of Keats' s Poems 21 

The Dream 22 

Memories 23 

Dusk 24 

Sleep 25 

Remembrance 26 

LYRICS 

Song of a Blind Pilgrim at the 

Gate of Heaven . . 29 

The Temple in the Twilight . 30 

A Pilgrim 31 

A Saint 32 

The Light of Dream ... 33 

The Temple in the Trees . . 34 

Fancy 35 

The Things That Last . . 36 
The Young Poet ... .37 

Appreciation .... 38 

The Storm 39 

On a Picture 40 



The Tide 41 

Vespers 42 

A Song in Season .... 43 

Things Forgotten ... 44 

Experience 45 

QUATRAINS 

Sunset 49 

Tears of Gladness . . 50 

Love Letters . . . . 51 

A Miniature 52 

Reconciliation .... 53 

The Vagrant 54 

Silence 55 

Hearing and Speech ... 56 

The Seed 57 

Storm in the Highlands . 58 

On a Fly-leaf of Shelley's Poems 59 

Sympathy 60 

AN ODE 

The Moon 63 

The One Lyric 67 



SONNETS 



THE INTERPRETER 

If in my heart I heard as you can hear 
The happy birds and insects murmuring, 
In winter I should think that it were spring 

And so be glad as you are all the year ; 

Or if to you I could be always near 

And know the joy of every song you sing, 
Into my heart the music you might bring 

Of every sound of summer that is dear. 

I never knew such happiness as that 
Until, enraptured and alone, I sat 

And listened to the melody you made; 
And when I closed my eyes it was to dream 
Of some green margin of a meadow-stream 

That sang to me beside it in the shade. 



[ 9 ] 



A LOVE-THOUGHT 

The thought of you is like a breath of spring, 
Sweet with a promise even as the wind ; 
It warms my heart again and clears my mind, 

And sets the flowers of pleasure blossoming. 

Love, like a bird, returns with it to sing; 

Life leaves the shadows everywhere behind ; - 
It bubbles up and hastens forth to find 

The sunshine bright with buds and birds a-wing. 

And, like the fragrance of the woodland breeze, 
This precious thought is sweet with memories 

Of long ago when we as children met, — 
Of other days which you for me made bright 
With so much happiness and love and light 

That while I live I never shall forget. 



[ 10 ] 



A SONG -DREAM 

M. G. P. 

Remembering your music in the night, 
I woke from dreams, and listening I heard 
Ethereal voices where the zephyr stirred 

Amid the green leaves trembling with delight; 

From distant fields down airy paths moon-white, 
Floated from time to time a fairy word, 
Melodious, — the lyric of some bird 

That sang to cheer its solitary flight. 

Then Sleep's soft fingers brushed mine eyelids o'er, 
The zephyr hushed, the bird's voice fainter grew 

Until at last I slumbered as before. 
To dream again, and in this dream I knew 

A song familiar and love's voice once more, 
And love — which is another name for you. 



[ 11 ] 



LOVE'S SPRINGTIDE 

Henceforth my life shall ever know the Spring, 
And from my heart where love has made her nest 
There shall go forth upon the lyric quest 

Glad thoughts, from day to day new-born, to sing 

My joy through all the earth like birds a-wing: 
The voice of Love shall steal into my rest 
In dreams of song, and every dawn be blest 

With music sweet beyond imagining. 

So shall I share the rapture of the lark, 
The nightingale's enchantment in the dark. 

The ecstasy of every star above ; 
Song shall be mine until that day when Death 
Shall come to me and hush with frozen breath 

The hopes and joys that warm the nest of Love 



[ 12 ] 



THE AWAKENING 

Hearing her sing in some dim place remote 
I marvelled at the beauty of each word, 
As one who hears the lyric of a bird 

With April's gladness bubbling in its throat. 

And while I listened so, one ringing note 
Divinely sweet above the rest I heard, 
And in my heart its answering echo stirred 

Setting a thousand memories afloat. 

Then I whose lips the winter's cold had sealed 
Sought once again to fashion into rhyme 
The prisoned rapture of my silence long, 
And, one by one, I felt the fetters yield 
Until the world about me grew sublime 
Touched by the joy of love's immortal song. 



I 13 ] 



THE LOVE LETTER 

This fluttering sheet of paper, snowy white, 
A dove of Venus is whose glad behest 
It is to bear my message on its breast 

Unto my Sweet across the leagues of night. 

And when beneath the singing stars its flight 
Is done, then shall it find a downy nest 
Amid the laces of her gown and rest 

Upon her bosom, dreaming of delight. 

Up then, my bird, and spread your pinions wide, 
The quest is happy though the way be long: 

Joy your companion is, and Love your guide. 
And hope within your heart beats ever strong; 

Godspeed ! would I might journey at your side 
And hear with you her lips repeat my song. 



[ 14 ] 



CONFESSION 

When first I held you in my arms and pressed 
You to my heart, lo, like the lifting tide, 
I felt your love beat up against my side 

With murmurings of secrets half-confessed ! 

Like the refreshing waves your kisses blessed 
My lips, when laughingly and happy-eyed 
You on my shoulder dropped your head to hide 

Your joy and dreamed a moment on my breast. 

The wonder of the ever-changing skies, 

Of clouds and mists, and every glorious star 

Is in the beauty of your wondrous eyes ; 
The mystery of lisping gales afar 

Stirs in the softest whisper of your sighs, 
And Love makes me a poet where you are. 



[ 15 ] 



THE DAWN OF LOVE 

Sweeter than any earthly dawn is this, 

The morning of our love, when her fond eyes 
Open like little flowers of Paradise 

And fill the garden place of dreams with bliss. 

No glory of the daybreak do I miss — 
Blushes that rival daybreak's rosy skies, — 
Smiles that are sunshine laughing in disguise,— 

And all the sweets of summer in her kiss. 

Her hair is like a golden mist above 

The snowy bosom, that unfathomed sea, 

The undercurrent and the tide whereof 
Are but the yearning of her heart for me; 

And in the lyric whisper of her love 
There is a murmur of eternity. 



[ 16 ] 



IN CITY PENT 

Far from the mountains and the meadows I, 
Who love the quiet country, in this place 
Of strange unrest, turn thitherward my face, 

Tired of the noise and homesick for the sky. 

There sing the birds that in the days gone by 

Brought joy to me, and there the sweet flowers grace 
The path that led to Nature's kind embrace, 

And Echo lingers there with fond reply. 

O for a breath of fragrance and a sight 

Of blue hills swimming in the morning light, 

And purple valleys streaked with silvery streams ! 
O for the open country and the long 
Days made miraculous by sky and song. 

And leafy slumbers filled with pleasant dreams ! 



[ 17 ] 



THE MORNING WALK 

The birds are building in the budding trees 
And making music wonderfully sweet 
To me as I pass down the village street, 

Stirred by innumerable memories 

Of other days as beautiful as these. 

The pansies lift their lovely eyes to meet 
The glad smile of the summer sun, and greet 

Me with a fragrant whisper in the breeze. 

Into the garden of my heart I stray 
And there I find the flowers of yesterday, 

The sunlight of the summer and the past, — 
Remembered voices sing to me of love, 
As from the heaven glorious above, 

And I, enraptured, answer them at last. 



[ 18 ] 



SEA AND LAND 

Vexed with herself, the Sea returning sighs 
To think she scorned the ever steadfast Land, 
Who waits for her and reaches either hand 

Under the sombre shadow of the skies. 

That as a cloak across his shoulders lies. 
She answers not the jealous Wind's demand. 
But hurries on until upon the strand 

She turns unto her Lover with fond eyes. 

There as of old at dawn again they meet. 
And of the day the promises are sweet 

As those forgotten were. The sunlight beams 
Upon her face half-hidden in his breast, 
Where for a moment's space of peace and rest 

She gives herself to slumber and to dreams. 



£ 19 ] 



LOVE 

Scorned, spurned and scoffed, I am content to stand 
Within the shadow of your heart and wait, 
As though a beggar at its iron gate, 

To ask one word of you who have command : 

And it may be ere dusk the restless band 

That hunt you with the keen-edged swords of hate 
Will find your hidden refuge, but the fate 

That enters it must first with me try hand. 

The wanderer who hovers there to win 
A smile from you will let no Evil in. 

His only weapon is the steel of truth, 
A single sword to keep the world away, — 
But many are the foes have fallen prey 

Unto the courage of immortal youth 1 



[ 20 1 



FOR A COPY OF KEATS'S POEMS 

You taught my eager heart to understand 

The joyousness of love, and, opening this book, 
Bade me, as from a casement wide, to look 

Through it upon the beauty of the land 

That sun and bloom make bright; and with your hand 
In mine the friends of Sorrow I forsook 
To listen to the lyric of the brook 

Whose songs are writ in water and in sand. 

There with the lilies white we used to dream 
The starlit hours of summer evening through, 

With Keats clear singing and the dulcet stream 
Flooding our hearts with happiness anew, — 

A mingled music that must always seem 
All his, remembering this gift from you. 



[ 21 ] 



THE DREAM 

Serene she sits before the hearth's bright gold, 
Her withered cheeks transfigured with the glow, 
And, pondering the days of long ago. 

The scroll of memory her eyes behold. 

Unto her heart it seems, now she is old. 
That Youth is come again, as if the snow 
Of years had vanished leaving her to know 

The Spring, and see its loveliness unfold. 

The wreath of age rests lightly on the brow 
Where once the bridal roses breathed above 
Her girlish rapture in the fragrant air; 
She hears celestial voices singing now. 

And back from out the dark her absent Love 
Returning, smiles to make her dream more fair. 



[ 22 ] 



MEMORIES 

Above the busy world at dusk I know 
Each day an hour of happiness complete, 
For then I sit within the window-seat 

And dream of home, and Her, and long ago. 

The silence in the city far below. 
The sunset as it glorifies the street, 
Each to my homesick heart is ever sweet 

As the soft winds that wander to and fro. 

There oftentimes the blessed memory 

Of other days makes glad the dark for me; 

I hear the happy singing of the birds 
In bowers of bloom, I breathe the fragrance borne 
Across the world from out the Orient morn, 

And listening I hear again Her words. 



[ 23 3 



DUSK 

The evening hour of love's brief happy day, 

And where is She now while the last sands run ? 
Her smile I welcomed with the rising sun, 

Nor dreamed the dusk would find her far away. 

I, on the threshold in the last warm ray, 

Remember how when morn had but begun 
We stood together here. The dream is done, 

And in the shadow all alone I stay. 

The world is quiet, and its quietness 

Is in my mind where all thoughts come and go 
Unnoticed as the birds that fail to bless 

This sad hour with a single song I know ; 
And hope within my heart grows less and less 

And dies out with the day's last golden glow. 



[ 24 ] 



SLEEP 

Lead me, kind Sleep, unto the land of Dreams ; 
There I with all fantastic Fancies gray 
Through moonlit groves of sombre yews will stray, 

Or with them wander by Life's silent streams 

Where fire-fly joys shed their inconstant gleams, 
And flowers that never know the light of day 
Breathe on the passing winds their souls away, — 

For this my stricken heart a pleasure deems. 

And if upon the journey I should die, 

Or, charmed by force of omnipresent power, 
Should leave you at the midnight's lonely hour, — 

Search not the glooms for me. Wherever I 
May chance, it cannot be, kind Sleep, more far 
Than this from where my dear dead comrades are. 



[ 25 ] 



rp:membrance 

Where memory broods, sphinx-like, with folded wings, 
Far in the miraged desert of man's mind. 
The caravans of thought through dim ways wind 

Unto the tombs amid the wreck of things. 

Fearless forever in their wanderings. 

And leaving all the wondrous world behind, 
They search the wilderness only to find 

The pyramids beside Sahara's springs. 

Close by the monuments that tower above 
The heart's first dead, a living stream of love 

Keeps green through all the years one garden spot ; 
And often, pilgrim-wise, our thoughts retrace 
The weary way unto that sacred place. 

Remembering whom the world remembers not. 



[ 26 ] 



LYRICS 



SONG OF A BLIND PILGRIM AT 
THE GATE OF HEAVEN 

Blind though I be I have not missed the road, 
Nor have I stumbled with misfortune's load ; 

While others following the sun by day, 

And stars by night, have somehow lost the way. 

And there are those, more strong than I to bear 
The weight of weariness, have fallen there. 

Lord I thank Thee, both for the inner light 
Which through the darkness guided me aright, 

And for the voice which, when my strength was gone, 
With words of loving-kindness urged me on. 



L 29 ] 



A SAINT 

She made a sacrifice of love 

To God above, 

And when He reads the open scroll 

Of her sweet soul 

He will find nothing written there 

But hymn and prayer. 

Her thoughts were like the lights divine 

Before a shrine; 

And she it was, a patient nun, 

Who kept each one 

About the altar always bright 

Both day and night. 



[32 ] 



THE LIGHT OF DREAM 

When evening comes upon the skies 

And sets one star agleam 
Sleep shuts the sunshine from my eyes 

And lights them with a dream. 

Then silence folds its wings above, 
But not the whispering wind, 

And though I sleep the voice of love 
Makes music in my mind. 

The dark a menace cannot be — 
The journey to the day, — 

Love ever to companion me, 
A dream to light the way ! 



[ 33 ] 



THE TEMPLE IN THE TREES 

Like priests the shadows to and fro 
In flowing raiment come and go ; 
The wild flowers bend in worship there, 
And close their lovely eyes in prayer. 

The silver mist like incense lifts, 

And through the silence slowly drifts; 

Then through the woods from feathered throats 

A hymn of praise to Heaven floats. 

There day by day, a happy throng, 

The birds and flowers with prayer and song 

Unite in worship, and above 

With song and sweetness lift their love. 



I 34 ] 



FANCY 

A form of mist by sunlight kissed 

Borne by the wind along ; 
Such is the dream which like a gleam 

Shines in the poet's song. 

What is the thought by fancy wrought 

In love's fantastic mood? 
Ever anon it comes — is gone 

Half glimpsed, half understood. 



[ 35 ] 



THE THINGS THAT LAST 

One pearl of thought the flood of rhyme 
May cast up from life's deep, 

Which left upon the sands of Time, 
The world will care to keep. 

Some little deed of kindness done 
For love's dear sake may be, 

Of all life's works, the only one 
To hold man's memory. 

Remember, nothing is so small 

But that, when life is past. 
It may not chance to be, of all, 

The one thing that will last. 



[ 36 ] 



THE YOUNG POET 

Life's new and pleasant paths he trod 

Among the sunlit hills of truth, 
And lifted up his heart to God, 

Who smiled upon the dream of youth. 

There listened he while nature taught ; IH 

There felt his timid heart grow strong; 
And there an inspiration caught 

From Heaven that filled his soul with song. 



L 37 ] 



APPRECIATION 

Across the world, on tireless wings 
Of love, his fancy flies — 

A happy bird which always sings 
Or bright or dark the skies. 

And if the song faint answer wakes 
From heart of one at rest — 

That single word it is that makes 
The poet's singing blest. 



I 38 3 



THE STORM 

A sudden gleam of anger in her eyes — 
Mark how the lightning plays across the skies ! 

Deep-drawn her breathing, — lo, it is the breeze 
That drives the clouds above and twists the trees ! 

Soon, then, her tears fall swiftly like the rain ; 
She smiles, and all the world is bright again. 



[ 39 ] 



ON A PICTURE 

Among the faces of these girls — 

Which seem to break forth from their curls 

As flowers from buds — is one that glows 

All crimson like a blushing rose, 

And one that lifts itself on high — 

A lily looking to the sky, 

Another with a pansy's grace 

Half hides amid the leafy lace; 

And all are sweet, and all are fair 

Like beauty in a boutonniere — 

A dream of loveliness ! Give me 

This garden in epitome. 



L 40 ] 



THE TIDE 

High in the quiet heaven of my heart 

The thought of her shines like a moon above, 
And I can feel in every conscious part 

The joyous lifting of the tide of love. 

As when the waters of the summer sea H 

Run in untroubled by the restless wind, 
This flood comes home at even, silently, 

And breaks in whispered music on my mind. 



[ 41 ] 



VESPERS 

The stars at dusk, great candles, light 
The blue dome of the sky ; 

The wind, a prayer, from out the night 
Goes up to God on high. 

The choir of Heaven down the aisle 

Of Nature's temple goes. 
And through the twilight drifts awhile 

The incense of the rose. 

Silence, God's benediction, ends 
The vespers; and, it seems, 

Once more Peace like a dove descends 
Upon the world in dreams. 



[ 42 ] 



A SONG IN SEASON 

The madcap Spring came yesterday, 

And Winter died ; 
Happy at last, he passed away, 

She at his side. 

Now night and day the wayward child 

Is drowned in tears 
Till Summer, wakened by her wild 

Grief, reappears. 



[ 43 ] 



THINGS FORGOTTEN 

The beauty of the cloudless skies 
Reflected in her upturned eyes ; 
The gentle motion of her breast ; 
The pearls that like the foamy crest 
Of one white wave upon the sea 
There caught the light continually; 
The fragrance, and the touch of her 
Sweet breath to my flushed face; the stir 
Of summer wind ; and all that we 
At that time said, the melody 
Of mating birds — these I recall; 
But she it is remembers all. 
And so I love to sit apart 
With her, and, feeling how her heart 
Beats fondly 'gainst my own, to hear 
Of things forgotten far more dear. 



[ 44 ] 



EXPERIENCE 

One loved me once, I cannot tell you how 
Save that it was as no one loves me now. 

Playmates in childhood we, — the one sweet place 
Of refuge from the world was our embrace. 

Contented were we in our dream and free 
From ridicule that mocks the memory. 

So short the time, — it seems as but a day. 
Insidious Sin stole Innocence away ! 



[ 45 ] 



QUATRAINS 



SUNSET 

A siren in the sea unrolled 

The glory of her hair; 
And on the waves, a mass of gold, 

The sunlight rested there. 



t 49 ] 



TEARS OF GLADNESS 

These happy tears, like drops of dew 
Upon the flowers, suffuse her eyes 

Which like the blossoms, smiling too, 
Reflect the glory of the skies. 



[ 50 ] 



LOVE LETTERS 

Your letters come to me like birds, 

And always in the air 
The music of their happy words 

Is with me everywhere. 



[ 51 ] 



A MINIATURE 

Her hair is like a golden mist, 
Wind-blown, sun-kissed ; 
And like a little sunlit space 
Of heaven, her face. 



[ 52 ] 



RECONCILIATION 

Two children who had quarreled, and had walked 
Half home in silence, hearing how the birds 
Sang to each other everywhere, found words, 

And each forgave the other then, and talked. 



[ 53 ] 



THE VAGRANT 

Regardless of the Maker's perfect art, 
Sin like a vagrant is, who stands about 

The gateway of the city of a heart, 
And waits to enter in should Love pass out. 



E 54 ] 



SILENCE 

Her weary head poised on one upraised hand 
Sweet Silence whom we all love sits apart, 

And none of us who would can understand 
What thought is hidden in her aching heart. 



LofC. 



t 55 ] 



HEARING AND SPEECH 

If I were deaf, and yet the small voice heard — 
A whisper only, softer than the wind ; 

Though dumb, the prayer for which I had no word 
God in the silence would be sure to find. 



[ 56 ] 



THE SEED 

This bush of bloom that sweetens so the wind, 
Was once a seed the wind dropped carelessly; 
One thought forgotten, flowering in me, 

Has filled with wondrous happiness my mind. 



[ 57 ] 



STORM IN THE HIGHLANDS 

Half-hidden in the darkness of the night, 
Like sentinels the mountains stand before 

The camp; beyond them flash the swords of light 
And far away the guns of thunder roar. 



[ 58 ] 



ON A FLY-LEAF OF SHELLEY'S POEMS 



Herein all words are living things that die, — 
Whose spirits are the memories that throng 

The night, and haunt our dreaming, by and by, 
With half-remembered cadences of song. 



[ 59 ] 



SYMPATHY 

A flock of birds that far from woodland trees 
Have built and sing within the city mart, 

The tenderest of thoughts and sympathies 
Are sometimes found housed in a busy heart. 



[ 60 ] 



AN ODE 



*' Queen of the ivide air: thou most lo<vely queen 
Of all the brightness that mine eyes ha've seen. " 

— John Keats. 

THE MOON 
I 

Sweet lady, I would walk across the night 

With you, for now the first fond memory 
Of love that was my earliest delight 

Into the shadowed dark has driven me : 
I crave companionship and I would walk 
Alone with you and something learn of her 
From whom you with a message may have come. 
Aye, I indeed would talk 
With you, for I can see your pale lips stir 
To tell the broken message of the dumb. 

II 

And this is why, night after night, you thread 

The darkness silently; — or why is it 
If not to find and tell me what she said ? 

I often at the open window sit 
And watch your lonely figure passing by 
As, heedless of the stars' persistent eyes, 
You travel on unto the pearly gate 
Of dawn. O tell me why 
You wander from the gate of Paradise 
Each evening at an early hour or late.? 

[ 63 ] 



Ill 

Is it that when the Sun is far away 

The thought of him beats in your maiden breast, 
And you, who have been happy all the day, 

When twilight comes can therefore never rest? 
Is this the reason why you wander through 
The poppied paths of dusk and always seem 
Unconscious of the fragrance of the wind? 
Or why is it that you 
In whose face shines the glory of a dream 
A lonely wanderer in Heaven I find? 

IV 

Are you the ghost of one who searches for 

Some wandering soul or, hovering afar, 
An Angel, like a mother watching o'er 

The couch whereon her sleeping children are? 
What thought is it that lights your lovely face 
And to your eyes this dewy brilliance brings 
That falls upon the world ere you have passed, 
And in that starlit space 
A soaring lark of Heaven so sweetly sings 
That all the world forgets to dream at last? 



E 64 ] 



V 

Ah no, upon some mountain veiled in mist, 
Unfrequented by man, I think you meet 
A lover, and that there you keep a tryst 

With him, for always with reluctant feet 
You travel homeward through the shadows dim. 
I think the thought that brings that blessed smile 
And fills your eager heart with happiness 
Must be the thought of him 
Who is forever with you even while 

You wander, and he thinks of you no less. 



[ 65 ] 



THE ONE LYRIC 

Upon the worWs great shore in song 
Like waves the words beat to and fro, 

A lyric tide that sings along 
The ways of life wherein I go. 

Their messages I set in rhyme 
And dream that I may yet find one 

That shall endure until the time 
When the last songtide is outrun. 

I ask hut once to touch the dust 
Of this old earth to melody, — 

To leave one lyric I can trust 
To live for all eternity. 



t 67 J 



Printed by 
George William Browning, Clinton, N. Y. 



OCT 18 1904 



